Trophy
by SharanMcQuack
Summary: Launchpad helps Trins and Webby build a sailing boat. Ma Beagle builds sailing boat for the Beagle Brats. Race follows.


Trophy

By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.

Huey, Dewey ,Louie and Webby wanted to get their Jr. Woodchuck medal in wood working in style. They got Launchpad to help them build a sailing boat.

"We want to compete in the annual Duckburg amateur sailing race." they said. "We want to prove kids are just as good as grown ups."

I had heard about this race by now. By tradition, all the boats are homemade. Sort of like a soapbox derby on water.

The Beagle Brats soon heard of this and got Ma Beagle to build them a sailing boat, too.

BUT...

"Somebody stolen the trophy for the sailing race!" Huey said.

"Why would somebody do that?" I asked.

"There's this rumor the trophy was made out of real gold!" Dewey said.

"You mean somebody BELIEVES that?" Louie asked.

"Apparently. You have a picture of the trophy?" Launchpad asked.

"There are photos of the trophy in the ad for the race" Huey said, handing Launchpad the ad.

There were several photos of the trophy, from different angles. It's a model that doesn't move, doesn't gain weight and doesn't ask for money.

Launchpad took the ad.

"I'll be back! Before the race can start!" Launchpad promised.

Launchpad took my hand and we went home. Launchpad dug thur his collection of flying trophies. He selected three of them.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Making a sailing trophy out of my old flying trophies." Launchpad replied.

THEN, I noticed all three trophies vaguely resembled the sailing trophy, at least in part.

Launchpad assembled parts of the three flying trophies to a copy of the sailing trophy. It took him a few tries before he got it right, but it looked just like the original trophy at last. Launchpad had to spray paint it, since parts of it were "gold" and others were "silver". Luckily, spray paint dries fast.

We had to hasten to get to the race before it started, but since these amateur sailing races always start about an hour after they are supposed to start, we made it in time. (1)

There was quite a crowd at Duckburg Pond. People who wanted to participate in the race, people who wanted to watch. Since this was May, after the April rains, Duckburg Pond was the size of a lake. Come August, it will be back to pond again.

Of course, the Beagle Brats built their boat , the Bratweiser, with cheating in mind. WE worked within the rules. The Lookfar (2) was long and thin and light. We've learned a thing or two from previous races.

The race had hardly started before we were far, far ahead of all the other boats, except the Beagle Brats' boat. The Bratweiser. Naturally, as soon as they were out of sight from the pond's shore (and out of sight of the judges there) the Beagle Brats cheated.

They aimed rocks at us from slingshots. Fortunately, we were too far ahead for them to hit us. But they kept getting closer. And closer.

"They got an engine. I just KNOW they got an engine hidden someplace." I muttered.

"It can't be too big or powerful an engine or the judges would of seen it when their boat was examined to make sure it was safe." Launchpad said "The judges weren't looking for an engine, they must of not seen a small, hidden engine."

Launchpad kept zig-zagging the boat, tacking in and then against the wind in no particular order so the Brats kept missing us. Then, we went past a buoy, put there to mark the course of the race. It was made out of an old tire.

I swear on my Chickadee Honor we did NOT do this on purpose (probably wouldn't of worked if we TRIED). One of the rocks the Brats aimed at us missed. The rock hit the buoy. Since the buoy was made out of rubber, the rock bounced back. The rock hit the Brats boat, the Bratweiser somewhere on the stern of their boat.

"Great. If they start to sink, I suppose I gotta rescue them. They are just kids, after all." Launchpad said.

However, the Bratweiser did NOT sink. It just slowed down. A LOT,

"It hit the engine! The rock hit their hidden engine! Cousin (3)Gladstone doesn't have luck that good!" Huey marveled.

It had happened, anyway. The Bratweiser soon slowed to a stop. The Brats tried to fix their hidden engine. Then they tried to sail or row. Mostly they just argued and yelled at each other and blamed each other, which somehow didn't help.

We could not help laughing. We kept on sailing, of course. The finish line was close ahead and Launchpad slowed down a bit. He didn't want to hit the dock going too fast and he thought he could relax now that the Brats were out of the race.

The Beagle Brats obliviously did NOT know how to sail well enough to be a threat. The Brats had counted on their hidden motor and didn't think they needed to be good at sailing.

HOWEVER, we had somehow forgotten that the Beagle Brats and us were NOT the only two boats in the race. The Beagle Brats and us had been so focused on beating each other, we did not notice another boat approaching until after it past both our boats and crossed the finish line first.

Even more surprising was the identity of the winner.

'UNCA DONALD?" the Trins asked.

LATER...

"Where did you get the boat from?" the kids later asked Donald.

Donald blushed.

" I made it for him for his birthday." his first mate, DAISY said. "I know how much he likes boats."

"Drat! So much for proving kids are just as good as grown-ups!" Dewey said.

"Isn't that kind of dumb?" Louie asked. "There"s not a grown-up on the planet that wasn't a kid, once. Even Unca Scrooge was a kid once- when dinosaurs still walked the Earth."

When Donald and Daisy went to accept their trophy, a fuss was made.

"Hey! That ain't the REAL trophy!" said the brattiest Beagle Brat.

"And how exactly do you know that?" Launchpad asked, oh so innocently.

'I swiped the real trophy so even if we lost, we'd still have the trophy to "prove" we won!" Brattiest said."Ut-oh! I shouldn't have SAID that!"

"You really thought that would work?" Launchpad asked.

"YOU remember who won LAST year? Neither does anybody else. We'd have the newspaper clippings from today to prove we entered, and the trophy to "prove" we won!" Brattiest explained.

"And the fact you didn't really win or won by cheating wouldn't BOTHER you?" Launchpad asked.

"Why SHOULD it?" Brattiest asked.

The End

(1)They have to inspect each boat to make sure they are safe. "They" don't want anybody drowning or the town getting sued.

(2) Named after the boat in "A Wizard Of Earthsea" by Ursula Le Guin. Good book. Good series. Even if I only liked the original three books.

(3) What relation is Gladstone to the Trins?


End file.
